Twisting You

by Simone Elise

  “I can’t talk to you when you are like this.” Frustrated, Dad got up from the bed. “Ever since you woke up last week, you have convinced yourself that Alec doesn’t want you.” He slammed a fist down on the small table next to the hospital bed. “When in reality it is far from the truth. He has stayed here every day since your operation, Chloe, and you haven’t let him see you ONCE!”

  “DON’T YELL AT ME!”

  “He isn’t stupid, you know.” Dad looked at me with pure anger. “He knows you don’t want to see him and you’re hurting him, Chloe. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

  I didn’t say anything to Dad as he left the room slamming the hospital door behind him. He could yell at me all he wanted, but the truth still stood. Alec was with his mate.

  I ran my hands through my hair. I wasn’t helping myself by thinking of Alec. It was only making my healing slower because I was drained by my emotions.

  I looked slowly up at the closed door. Was Alec out there? Had he really been here all week, just waiting? I got up from the chair, trying to ignore the shooting pains running up my back as I moved.

  Placing my hand on the doorknob, I twisted it and stuck my head out into the hallway. It was empty. Opening the door, I walked up the hallway. All the room doors were closed. Looks like I am not the only one who likes privacy.

  Though I admit I was just trying to keep people blocked out.

  Finally reaching the waiting room, I closed my eyes briefly before walking in, preparing myself. I opened my eyes. Sure enough, there was Alec sitting in a corner chair, his head in his hands. Guilt began to build in my stomach.

  Why was he even bothering? Wasn’t his mate in the hospital too? He should be with her.

  “Who shouldn’t be here,” I said, and his head snapped up in my direction. His eyes were bloodshot, dark circles around them. When was the last time he slept?

  “Chloe.” His voice was husky and crackled. I noticed the tear stains on his face now. Oh my god, what had I done?

  “You’re awake,” he gulped, looking me up and down “You came to see me.” He looked at me slightly hopefully.

  I nodded my head. “I don’t know what made me come down here.” Really I couldn’t believe he was actually here waiting, all this time. “Why?’ I had to ask. What was making him stay?

  His mouth opened slightly. He looked at me, confused, before he slowly got to his feet and walked towards me. “What do you mean why?”

  “Why are you here?” I frowned at him. I couldn’t understand it! Why would he save me? Why would he stay here waiting for me, when he had someone else? Bitterness filled my heart, someone who was more important than me. “Gabby is her name, isn’t it?”

  “You wouldn’t see me because of Gabby?” He looked at me, shocked. “I thought you wouldn’t see me because…” He choked up slightly. “Because it’s my fault you’re here.”

  “You weren’t behind the wheel. I was.” My legs began to shake. I wasn’t meant to be on my feet. Bed rest, the doctor told me. Placing a hand on the doorframe, steadying myself, I said, “I need to sit down.”

  Without being asked, Alec wrapped an arm around me in an instant, and he guided me to a seat.

  Gently he lowered me into a chair. “You ok, Chloe?” He looked at me, worried.

  “I’m ok.” Our faces were so close. He hadn’t pulled away from me. His arm was still behind my back. I saw the regret in his eyes. Maybe he was regretting ever giving me a second look. I was sure I was cursed when it came to my love life.

  “I should have told you about Gabby a long time ago.” His voice lowered as he spoke to me, his eyes locked with mine. “I’m sorry I didn’t.”

  I broke our eye contact and glared into my lap. Why did things always have to get hard? Why did drama have to consume my life?

  “You should go home. Eat, sleep, you know, what you haven’t been doing.” I fiddled with the tie on my dressing grown. I couldn’t look up at him and he slowly pulled his arm from behind me. It took all my self-control not to stop him.

  “Yeah, you’re right.” Alec sighed, and withdrew from me slightly. “I’ll come back in the morning.”

  “No.” I looked up at him. My heart was aching with regret. “Don’t, please don’t make this harder for me.” I was begging him not to prolong his breakup with me.

  “Chloe, I love you. Why would I want to make anything hard for you?” Alec got on his knees in front of me. “I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me. Do you want to break up?”

  “Like I get a choice! You went back your mate. You made the decision, Alec.” I felt bitter, and the bitterness could be heard in my voice. “I was stupid to ever think I had a chance to stop you from going back to her.”

  “Chloe, I wasn’t going back to her.” Alec’s voice was firm. He placed a hand on my knee and moved closer. “I love you. You clearly don’t know that Gabby’s….” he stopped for a moment. I saw him swallow hard. “Gabby isn’t…well, she’s brain dead. But her parents won’t turn her life support off.”

  “She’s dead?”

  “I suppose, you could say that. I used to think of her more as Sleeping Beauty than as her being, um, dead.” Alec dropped eye contact. It was clearly hard for him to talk about her.

  “I thought you were going back to her,” I mumbled weakly. “That’s why I wouldn’t let you see me, because I thought you were going to break up with me.” My bottom lip began to tremble, and then the tears began to drop. I felt so weak, my emotions raw for all to see.

  “I should have answered my phone.” Alec cursed himself, quietly. He shouldn’t carry all the blame for this. It was my stubbornness that had drawn this out longer than needed.

  “I should have let you explain.” I slowly reached out and touched his cheek “I just didn’t want to lose you.”

  Alec lifted his head, and finally looked me in the eyes. His gaze was so soft and caring. I hadn’t realized how important he had become to me until I nearly lost him.

  Why is it you never know what someone really means to you, until they are gone?

  “You look exhausted.” I traced his jaw line with my finger. I chewed my bottom lip guiltily, seeing what I had put him through these last few days.

  “I thought you would never see me again,” he admitted and then moved his hand up my thigh and softly placed it behind my back, drawing my body slightly closer to him. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”

  Letting my head fall forwards and onto his shoulder, I whispered, “I won’t. Just as long as you promise not to keep anything from me.”

  “I promise.” He kissed the side of my head and wrapped his arms around my back. His embrace was so comforting. I closed my eyes, drawing in his scent and touch. I had thought I lost him, and now knowing that I hadn’t, I simple couldn’t believe my luck.

  Maybe I had actually found my Prince Charming. Perhaps I would never have to feel the sickening feeling of being rejected again.

  Alec really did love me and, now knowing his mate was out of the picture, I finally felt like we could be a real couple.

  No one could pull us apart. Well, that was what I hoped.

  ***

  Rolling over and curling closer into Alec’s side, I inhaled his scent. Just his being here brought me so much peace. The small single hospital bed crackled slightly, as Alec adjusted his weight on it.

  “Am I hurting you? Do you have enough room?” Alec moved a fraction of an inch, trying to give me more space, which wasn’t needed.

  Hooking one leg over his, I said, “I’m fine.”

  Alec’s fingers traced up and down my arm, so calming. I reached over him, and threaded my fingers through his. Frowning, I felt broken skin across his knuckles. “What happened to your hand?” I could see the impending bruises and the swelling.

  “Just had a run in with someone,” Alec mumbled, and lightly kissed the top of my head. “You need to get some sleep, Chloe. You sure you don’t want me to
turn the lights off?”

  “No, I like them on dim.” I yawned quietly. “Unless they’re bothering you?”

  “No.” Alec smiled, his fingers still tracing lines up my arm. “I’m going to sleep fine.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

  I just wanted all the drama to be over. I hoped the universe had had enough entertainment from my love life, and now finally I could have a normal relationship, well, as normal as it got.

  Chapter 35

  Alec

  Chloe lay sleeping in my bed, her long dark brown curls sweeping over my pillow. She had been asleep for at least the past four hours. Ever since she came out of the hospital, she struggled to make it through the day without having a nap.

  I slowly closed the curtain, blocking the sun out and casting the room into darkness.

  “Hey, Alec.” Dan’s voice boomed as he loudly flung my bedroom door open.

  “DAN!” I whispered harshly at him while striding across the room. Luckily, he hadn’t woken Chloe up. She was still sleeping soundly.

  “What do you want?” I asked, closing the bedroom door softly, blocking our voices out from Chloe. I didn’t care what anyone said. She could sleep as much as she needed.

  “Don’t do the high and mighty act with me.” Dan crossed his arms, a smug expression on his face. “Care to explain what happened?”

  “Explain what?”

  “Don’t play dumb, Alec. I know your handiwork when I see it.” Dan smiled, pleased. “Seeing as I often have worn the marks of your right hook.”

  Oh, he was talking about that. “That was nothing. Just drop it.” I moved to walk around him, but being the stubborn little brother he was, he blocked me.

  “You aren’t getting off that lightly. I wonder what Chloe is going to think when she goes back to school.” Dan had a firm smirk on his face. “I just don’t know why you wouldn’t let me watch.”

  “Chloe won’t know a thing.” Really, how long would it take for him to heal? My knuckles had already healed over. “Now get out of my way, Dan.”

  The grumbling in my stomach was enough to scare away any human. My focus the last few weeks had been solely on Chloe, and my body was starting to show the neglect.

  “Why did you hit him?” Dan was eager to press the matter. Where the hell was Maddison when you needed her?

  “Where’s Maddison?” I attempted to distract him. I didn’t really want to rehash the details to him, especially since Chloe was only sleeping a few feet away and could wake any moment. I still didn’t want to know her reaction to me harming her mate.

  “With Mom shopping for wedding stuff. Don’t change the subject.” Dan arched both eyebrows, eager for every detail. “So tell me, what he did he do?”

  “What hasn’t he done?” I spat, the rage beginning to creep over me when I thought of that mutt. “He was asking for it.”

  “Asking for it?” Dan asked, an eager expression like a child on Christmas on his face. “How did you not get arrested for what you did? I heard you put him through a plate glass window?”

  “He fell through the window.”

  “With your help, I am guessing.” Dan added, now eagerly following me down the staircase.

  “He should have just left.” He was asking for it. I told him to get lost. But like the stubborn, selfish mutt he was, he wouldn’t listen.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t tell Chloe about it.”

  “Why would I?” I snapped. “You think she really wants to know how I raged at her mate?”

  “Yeah, but she doesn’t care for him.”

  “Just drop it, Dan.” I slumped onto the living room couch and flicked the TV on. But not even the noise of football could keep Dan’s voice muted.

  “Xavier is really pissed, Alec. I don’t think you’ve heard the last of him.” Dan looked at the TV for a few moments, before shaking his head and leaving the room. He finally got the point that I didn’t want to talk about it.

  I would be more than glad to have another visit from Xavier. He deserved a lot more than a few punches and a hammering through a window. Considering all that was beneath the window was a garden bed, the impact would have been softer than a mountain of pillows.

  I stared aimlessly at the TV. I still don’t know how we both had managed to defeat a change. My wolf wanted to slaughter his and I’m sure his felt the same.

  After all, we both were fighting over Chloe. She was everything to me and, sadly, she would always be everything to him.

  Xavier

  “Chloe, don’t go.” Alec reached out, stopping her from getting in the car. The way he looked at her boiled disgust within me. But it was the look Chloe gave back to him that broke my heart.

  “I’ll be back here after school tomorrow.” She cupped his face affectionately. “I haven’t been home for three days.”

  “So you’re going back to school tomorrow?” Alec brushed a stray curl from her face, his concern clear in his eyes. “Do you want me to come?”

  My fists clenched. Did she want him to come? What did he think I would do to her if he weren’t there? My glare at Alec deepened.

  “No, I’ll be fine.” Chloe smiled sweetly. “Though you could pick me up?” Her smile blossomed into a grin. She had never grinned at me like that. In fact she had never shone with happiness around me the way she shone now.

  “Ok.” Alec kissed her quickly. “You’d better go, before I change my mind.” He winked at her. She rolled her eyes and got in the car.

  Watching the relationship they had sickened me. How had I let this happen? But more importantly, was I really going to do this?

  I watched the taillights of Chloe’s car disappear down the road. I glanced back at Alec, who was stilling standing on the porch, also watching them disappear.

  Stepping out of my car, I crossed the road and headed up their driveway. Alec didn’t seem even mildly surprised to see me. Since Chloe had stopped replying to my messages and wouldn’t return my phone calls, I’d had to track her down. Especially considering I was overwhelmed by the feeling of her happiness, though it saddened me knowing I wasn’t the cause.

  She was getting better, healing. And it wasn’t me helping her. It was him.

  “About time you showed up.” Alec stepped down the porch stairs, his hands in his pockets. My right cheek was still slightly bruised from his punch. “I thought maybe you just liked hiding in the shadows.”

  “I’m guessing you’re the guy who helped Chloe redecorate my house.”

  “And your face.” Alec looked overconfident and amused by my appearance.

  I couldn’t myself from launching at him and picking up where we had finished off. But after the last few days, I knew what I had to do, even if I didn’t want to. “You lost your mate, didn’t you?”

  It was clear something had happened to his mate, seeing he was going so strongly after mine.

  “That’s not your business.” Alec’s voice dipped into a low snarl. His playfulness from before was now gone. Clearly I had mentioned a touchy topic.

  “You let her go. Do you regret it?” I wasn’t dropping the matter. I needed to know.

  “What do you want from me?” Alec snapped, and crossing his arms. “Because if you came to get some reassurance from me that you’re doing the right thing for Chloe, you’re damned well not getting any!”

  “Do you regret letting her go?” I repeated my question.

  Alec’s eyes were narrowed. “I didn’t have a choice.”

  “Does the pain go away?”

  “Yes.” Alec’s answer was simple. His posture changed and shock crept across his features. “You haven’t come here to finish what we started, have you?”

  “I would love to punch the shit out of you,” I admitted, remembering his hands all over Chloe and the way she looked at him. “But that isn’t why I came.”

  “Why did you come then?”

  A blanket of fear covered me. This was it. I had talked to mys
elf about it for days, knowing it was the right thing to do. But now as it came to it, I couldn’t stop myself from having second thoughts because I wasn’t sure if I could live with the consequences of this decision.

  But then I remembered one thing; this wasn’t for me.

  I looked up at Alec, meeting his curious eyes. If I was going to do this, I needed his help. I sighed, feeling weakened by what I was about to do. “I need you to do me favor.”

  Chapter 36

  I sat in the back of the classroom, not even bothering to rise from my chair when the familiar bell rang out throughout the school. Xavier’s eyes were firmly planted on mine when the bell rang.

  Chatter filled the room and all students rose and made their way to the exit. However, I remained seated because I knew Xavier would ask me to stay behind and, instead of fighting it, I just expected it.

  Alec didn’t come with me to school today. He actually had to go somewhere with his dad. And I didn’t want to be that whiney chick that couldn’t do anything without her boyfriend. Really, I should be able to go to school without him having to hold my hand.

  Once the last student left the room, Xavier closed the door, sealing him and me in the room. I was now relying on my willpower to keep me from doing something stupid.

  “Chloe.” Xavier’s voice was so soft and tender. He said my name like it was a precious gem. I was taken aback by his tone.

  “Xavier.” I closed my textbook and pushed it to the side. “I was guessing you would want to speak to me?”

  “We haven’t talked since, well, that night.” Xavier looked uncomfortable, as if he were raw on show for all. I was nearly fooled by his act. As if Xavier could show his real emotions.

  “How are Emily and the boys?” I smiled confidently. “Dad informed me they’re back in your care.”

  That’s it, Chloe. Just keep remembering his wife and family. He could speak to me as softly as he wanted, but at the end of the day he wasn’t mine.

  “Yeah. The boys keep asking when you’re stopping by.” Xavier crossed his arms. His eyes dropped to the ground. “Emily’s fine.”